The Press Democrat – Revenues at California Indian casinos increased slightly in 2012, but still not as robustly as pre-recession years, according to a report being released Wednesday. California’s 68 tribal casinos raked in $6.96 billion in 2012, the most recent year available, according to Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report. That was nearly a 1 percent increase over the $6.91 billion they collected in 2011. It was the second year of positive growth for California tribal casinos after experiencing three consecutive years of decline, according to the author, Alan Meister, an economist with Nathan Associates Inc. The 2012 growth…

Bloomberg – Russian officials are weighing a proposal to create a gambling zone with casinos and hotels in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed from Ukraine, according to four people with direct knowledge of the planning. Officials discussed the option at a March 21 meeting led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Russia’s ministries of economy, finance and regional development have an April 15 deadline to present a plan for the gambling project with spending and revenue estimates, the people said. Russia is seeking to make Crimea…

In January 2012, Schleswig-Holstein passed a liberal German gambling law which enabled online operators to apply for licenses for most games of chance, including sports bets, poker and casino games. The other fifteen German federal states, however, passed the reformed Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2012. Although the ISTG enabled online operators to accept sports wagers and liberalized the German gambling industry (in particular with respect to lotteries) to a certain extent, it also maintained the state monopoly for games of chance and the general ban on online gambling as set out under the previous legislation. Schleswig-Holstein withdrew its new German…

Macau casinos in the city on the southeast coast of China are the Asian version of Venice, complete with a Grand Canal and a Rialto Bridge. Soon, it will get a taste of France, with an Eiffel Tower and a giant resort modeled on the Palace of Versailles, as part of a building boom that has brought dozens of cranes to a stretch of reclaimed land here. Macau has grown explosively over the last decade, and another burst of expansion is in full swing as some of the world’s biggest casino operators step up their bet on China’s love for…

Would there be any support for a Houston casino? Horse racing is already legal there, but neighboring states are offering higher purses, and horse breeders are leaving Texas at a fervent pace. And in an effort to combat this, the horse racing industry is prepared to fight for the legalization casino gambling. According to the Memorial Examiner breeders registered just 300 foals eligible for horse racing in 2013. The peak for the state was more than 4,000. Concurrently, Oklahoma’s racing industry is booming, raking in $3.6 billion for the state in 2012. The Texas Racing Commission reported that in 2011,…

Biz Journals – Travelers will soon be able to gamble at Kansas City International Airport. Joe McBride, a spokesman for the Kansas City Aviation Department, confirmed that the airport will start selling lottery tickets and running keno games inside the airport’s passenger terminals through the Missouri Lottery. McBride said the airport is excited about the addition of another activity in the passenger terminals. He added that revenue collected through the gaming will go to the state’s education needs. Susan Doolen, a spokeswoman for HMSHost Corp., confirmed that the airport will soon allow gambling. She said that the agreement, which will…